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Black stone (NYSE:BX) said on Saturday it made a fourth offer to acquire British music and intellectual property management firm Hipgnosis Songs Fund, two days after the London-listed company signed a $1.4 billion deal with rival to the Concord Chorus musical and theatrical rights.
Concord and Hipgnosis on April 18 said they had reached an agreement under which the former would buy the latter for $1.16 per share in cash for a total consideration of about $1.4 billion.
Blackstone’s (BX) latest offer is priced at $1.24 per share, a nearly 7% increase over Concord’s offer.
“Blackstone (BX) strongly encourages the Hipgnosis Board to recognize the significant increase in value available to all shareholders under the terms of its Fourth Proposal, up from $1.16 as set forth in the Concord Offer, and to partner with Blackstone ( BX) to reach agreement on a unanimously recommended corporate offer in an expeditious manner,” the world’s largest private equity firm told Seeking Alpha in an emailed statement.
Hipgnosis was founded by music industry veteran Merck Mercuriadis. Today it manages more than 146 catalogs with approximately 65,000 songs, including works by artists such as Red Hot Chili Peppers, Journey, Mark Ronson, Shakira and Blondie.